The potential benefits of weeds: A comparative study: A review

Abstract

A weed in a general sense is a plant, usually wild or feral, that is commonly considered to be a nuisance in a garden, lawn, or other agricultural development. More specifically the term is often used to describe plants that grow and reproduce aggressively. Weeds may be unwanted because they are unsightly, or because they limit the growth of other plants by blocking light or using up nutrients from the soil. The term weed in its general sense is a subjective one, without any classification value, since a plant or herb is not a weed when growing where it belongs or is wanted. Despite of being harmful some weeds are called, beneficial plants or herbs as they are edible, use for food or herbal medicine. Other advantage of such beneficial herbs may be the keeping away of some insect pests of crops. Many researchers have pointed out that there is scarce evidence to prove that pests move from the alternative host in sufficient numbers to cause significant crop damage, even in the case of pests such as some of the aphids which are obliged to alternate between hosts to complete their life cycle.